Borealis: A Zutara Story | By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 33555 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 4 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, any historical figures or events, or easily recognizable persons, places or things. I make no profit from this work of fanfiction |
Chapter 256
Katara took the opportunity to bathe when Toshio and Mu helped Zuko to the bathroom. She was the only one who had not cleaned up. She dumped her bloody clothes in the basket with Amayu’s and Toshio’s. The infirmary had a laundry and they would not be out of place there. To her surprise Ty Lee insisted on washing her back and hair. She was so tired that she agreed without much protest. She fell into a deep but brief sleep during the chi replenishing massage. She was dried, dressed and sitting on the floor eating beneath the moonbeams by the time the men emerged from the bathroom. Mu paused as he walked past her. He was completely sober but he could have sworn a girl dressed in white was sitting next to Katara holding her. The specter looked up at him and scowled.It was the same one she’d introduced as the moon.Ty Lee noticed the change in Mu’s aura and the direction he was looking. She squinted and tilted her head in confusion then she smiled at the familiar presence. Whenever her path to take Sokka back to the brig went on deck the spirit would visit him too. Yue smiled back at Ty Lee then took her leave of Katara. This girl was kind hearted and more spiritually aware than other humans. If Yue spent too much time around her it was possible she would call forth the gifts that lingered on the precipice of her spirit and she didn’t want to endanger the human by bringing her abilities to the forefront.In that brief moment between mortal life and ascension, Vayu had come for her. The spirit of the air revealed the Airbenders had not been completely wiped out there were survivors who were carefully hidden. Vayu explained that unlike other elements, Airbending came from lightness in the soul. It could awaken or be lost at any moment. It was a secret that only Hou-T’u knew. She’d kept it from Agni, La and Tui but shared it with Yue as the girl would not carelessly reveal it after experiencing the pain of loss first hand. Sokka traveled with the Avatar and their journeys placed him in touch with several of her children. She couldn’t risk Yue’s well-meaning intercedence exposing them to enough spiritual power to awaken them before it was time. This girl, Ty Lee of the Fire Nation who loved Sokka as much as she did, was completely unaware she had unlocked her soul’s ability to Airbend.Yue could not hate Ty Lee or see her has a rival. Vayu had shown her why Ty Lee had run away to the circus and let her experience the joy she felt there. There was nothing Yue had experienced as a mortal or as the moon that could compare to the way the girl felt when she looked down at the happy faces watching her aerial performances. The acrobat didn’t even know the daring leaps and somersaults she executed flawlessly between each trapeze were her soul’s joyful expression of bending. She thought it was sheer athletic ability.
Not wanting to intrude Ty Lee waited until the spirit was gone to approach Katara. She sat beside her and looked out of the window “There is a spirit watching over you.”
“Huh?” Katara uttered in confusion.Ty Lee explained “She’s Water Tribe but she’s dressed in all white and has white hair. She is very beautiful and has a kind smile. I knew she watched over Sokka but tonight is the first time I’ve seen her with you. Sokka calls her Yue and says that she is the moon.”The Fire Nation girl raised her hand towards the window, “I hope that when I die I can become a spirit and spend eternity looking after my loved ones too. Granny Nima says it’s possible. Poppy Khan promised to always look after her. I sometimes see his spirit next to her.”Katara closed her eyes and set down her empty bowl, “I don’t want to be a spirit. When I die I want to slip into the void and remember nothing of this world.”Amayu called Katara’s name just as Ty Lee had begun to whisper, “Not even the good things?”She didn’t think the other girl heard her until Katara rose to her feet and shakily stood up. She replied “there are no good things” as she walked away.Katara rinsed the bowl before placing it next to the basin. She bent a bit of broth into Zuko’s mouth then lay down beside him. His breathing was unsteady. She woke him before carefully sliding beneath him. His breathing wasn’t as labored the other night when her exhalations forced his stomach his inward and deepening his inhalations. She quickly fell asleep once they were settled and Zuko’s breath had evened out.Ty Lee stared at the two of them. Their bruised auras had merged and were soothing each other. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself before looking down at her feet and murmuring sadly, “You’re wrong. You have something good but do not see it because it is not in the form you want.”Ty Lee took one last look at the fading moon then at Zuko and Katara before bidding the others good night and going to the room she shared with Mai and Azula. They would ask questions if she didn’t show up. She would have much rather stayed in the room she was in with her brother-in-law and the kind spirit. She didn’t like her room. She felt as if she was being watched. She placed her key inside the door, stepped into the semi-dark room and screamed. The wall had grown a pair of eyes.
Mu rushed into the room when he heard Ty Lee screaming. He arrived in time to dodge one of the many fireballs Azula was throwing in every direction. He had forgotten members of the royal family woke up fighting if the circumstances weren’t pleasant. Mai had rolled beneath her bed and Ty Lee was bouncing off the walls to chi block Azula. She would have burned the hotel down otherwise. Chu-hua arrived in her nightgown and easily suppressed Azula’s flames.
“What in Koh’s name is going on here?” the Admiral bellowed.“Eyes I saw them. They were in the wall. They were green and this high!” Ty Lee shrieked after stopping Azula.“Eyes? If you’re seeing eyes that would explain why you think someone is watching you,” Mai said dryly as she walked to the wall where Ty Lee was pointing. “I don’t see anything so I guess that’s why I don’t feel it. How about you, Azula?”The princess hissed and growled like a wet cat in response. She hated being chi blocked.“Azula says no too,” Mai happily translated. It was nice to see her friends so upset after the way they had been treating her.“I’m not crazy! They were there! Mu you believe me don’t you?” Ty Lee insisted.He had heard her talking of the spirit and took a more diplomatic approach, “I don’t disbelieve you but you are tired. You’ve been spending so much time at the Ursa House you haven’t gotten much rest.”“Really Mu? You don’t believe me either!” Ty Lee stared at the rest of the crowd that had gathered in the hallway. “Do you all think I’m crazy and just imagining I saw something?”Chu-hua placed her hand on her shoulder and said gently, “Go to bed child. The moon was full last night.” She glared at Zuko’s lone unopened door, “It is the patron saint of Waterbenders. I do not doubt it is playing tricks on us.”Ty Lee nodded. If Chu-hua was being this nice there was no hope of anyone believing her.
Hiro had woken up when he heard the commotion. He and Kisa rushed into the other rooms in the family suite to hide their children. Ami was running towards them. Yi Chin’s room was empty. The entrance to the secret chamber was cracked. The hotel owners sent their youngest child back to bed. When their oldest came running into his room they were waiting.
Ty Lee refused to remain in her room. Mu waited until the hall was clear to help her carry her bedding back to Zuko and Katara’s room. Amayu opened the door. She and Toshio both frowned when he explained what had happened. They were older and had been in more contested parts of the Earth Kingdom several times before. They knew of the danger lurking in the floors and walls. The hotel family had a teenage son. Ty Lee was most likely correct. He was watching them. Without explaining what she suspected Amayu urged the her to go sleep. The town was volatile enough; it would do no one any good to get him killed. Besides she knew plenty of ways to get rid of rats without killing them. They only wished they were dead.
After stroking Ty Lee’s hair until she felt asleep, Amayu went to check on Zuko and Katara; neither one of them had been disturbed by the commotion. Zuko’s eyes opened as she was checking his pulse but he quickly went back to sleep. Katara’s never opened. The doctor attributed it to exhaustion. She had done the majority of the work no doubt on inadequate rest as she insisted in filtering the villagers’ water in the morning and evening. She had seen Zuko out and about so she was certain he too had kept her from resting.“Fools and children,” Amayu sighed as she lay back down and studied the designs on the ceiling before drifting into a deep slumber.
Arraye: You have such an eye for detail! You always find my little nuggets and ask me to dig them all the way out. I know this isn’t the answer you were looking for but at this point I really don’t have a clear answer.
Zuko is high out of his mind but there are times when logic isn’t an option so instinct takes over and you achieve a different type of clarity. Is his perception of love from Katara a misinterpretation of her feelings for his well being or can he feel something through the rhythm of her heart beating inside him. Katara has admitted she sometimes forgets she hates him; is he amplifying the lack of hatred or is her lack of hatred a hint that she is beginning to feel something more? Or is he completely delusional and making up what he wants to happen.
Or is he right and Katara does love him? We most often think of love as something pure and good but sometimes love is dark and twisted. We forget love is cruel, evil, vile and the catalyst for some of the most heinous crimes ever committed. Has Katara become so isolated that what she feels for Zuko is a twisted form of love since he has become the one constant thing in her life and the only thing she can rely on?
Their relationship is very codependent and the one in power is constantly shifting. I know what Katara feels isn’t the healthy, happily ever after love but I can’t honestly say that Zuko hasn’t become a coping mechanism like some type of bad drug addicts use to get through the day.
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